15 ridiculous things that have happened during Sydney's property boom

This dilapidated shed on 278-square metres sold for $980,000 last year – we named it ‘the million dollar dump’. Photo: C Cashmore/ Twitter.

Although Sydney’s housing market is one of the hottest in the world, last week federal treasurer Joe Hockey said property in the city was patently affordable, because otherwise “no one would be buying it”.

Hockey also observed that the first step to buying a home was to “get a good job that pays good money”.

Mel Wilson, who’s had a good job for a decade as an HR manager, penned an open letter to the treasurer breaking down the cost of a home in Sydney compared to wages and the maths is not good.

According to Waleed Aly, who wrote an opinion piece in Fairfax Media, the debate over housing availability has been ongoing for at least 15 years. He suggests the real problem is that “housing is unaffordable because the market is flooded with investors”.

“Fewer than half of our houses are owned by people living in them. About 30 years ago that figure was around 85 per cent,” he writes.

“The result, put crudely, is rich people buying houses they don’t particularly want, but which poorer people want to live in.

“And since both sides of politics are determined to make sure house prices keep going up, investors take minimal risk and first-home seekers have increasingly minimal hope.”

The prices have even left the agents flabbergasted, as the 15 properties we’ve listed below show.

1. This penthouse in The Rocks sold for a whopping $16.2 million to a Chinese buyer. It may be the most expensive apartment to sell this year but strict confidentiality agreements has left many questions around the sale unanswered.

The Stamford Residences penthouse, built in 2012, has four bedrooms, five bathrooms spread across three-levels and Thomas Hamel interiors.

Originally listed for $15 million-plus a year ago, the prized real estate has one of the best views of the city's skyline and Sydney Harbour.

Media reports suggest Zhang Zetian — the same name of a Chinese internet sensation and the girlfriend of billionaire entrepreneur Liu Qiangdong - may be the owner of the property, but a gag order on any disclosure of the sale has even prevented the agent coming forward.

2. This tiny house is expected to sell for $3.5 million because it's in a business district. The trouble is, it's not even downtown - it's miles away, in St Leonards.

This real life version of the home from Pixar’s animated movie “Up” may just be 223-square metres, but the home which was purchased 75 years ago is expected to sell for at least $3.5 million.

Not only that but it is sandwiched between two mammoth skyscrapers in the business district of St Leonards at 19 Chandos Street.

With two street frontages, close proximity to St Leonards train station and the rising popularity of business districts outside the city’s CBD, the property’s real estate agent CBRE says the land is the perfect development opportunity. Read more on that here.

3. This terrace in Surry Hills sold $965,000 at auction in May, just shy of the average house price in the area. The catch? This property is only 2.85-metre wide.

This pint-sized property on Terry Street sits on just 38 square metres of land — packing two bedrooms upstairs with separate dining and living rooms downstairs.

Although expressions of interest sat in the mid-$700,000s, competitive bidding from three interested parties saw the price soar.

Despite not meeting the suburb’s median house price of around $1.2 million, the property offers a significant investment opportunity and has been advertised as having 'an enormous amount of potential'.

4. This $39 million mansion was bought by one of China's richest men. But in May Joe Hockey forced him to sell as his business had failed to notify the Foreign Investment Review Board.

In May an Australian citizen Villa del Mare in Point Piper, the property which treasurer Joe Hockey ordered Chinese property developer Xu Jiayin - one of China's richest people - to sell.

Earlier in the year Golden Fast Foods, owned by Jiayin's Evergrande Real Estate Group failed to notify the Foreign Investment Review Board upon the purchase of the property.

Under the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act non-resident foreign nationals cannot buy established dwellings as homes or investments and all foreigners require approval to buy residential real estate.

5. Even state housing blocks are getting sold off. This one in The Rocks went for $4.23 million in May.

Grimes Cottage at Millers Point may have been government housing but the heritage-listed real estate came with a hefty price tag going for $4.23 million at auction.

The five-bedroom, three-storey Georgian house, built in the 1830s, stands on 416 square metres of land has views of the Harbour Bridge and is one of the oldest surviving residential buildings in central Sydney.

The sale was part of the state government's plan to raise $500 million for new housing projects.

8. A developer paid $2.85 million for this ordinary suburban house in Gladesville in March. The sale price was nearly double the reserve.

This four bedroom, single story brick home in Stansell Street, Gladesville sits on 714.5- square metres between an unit block and service station - a lot which real estate agents describe as 'a rare find'.

Around 300 watched in disbelief as 28 registered bidders chased the property which was eventually sold for $2.85 million – $1.1 million above the reserve.

Agent Paul Tassone said: 'The buyer was a developer who plans to rent it out before eventually redeveloping the site'.

11. These 12 homes were bought from Sydney Olympic Authority for just $5.8 million. Just one month later they were sold for a whopping $10.4 million.

A dozen Federation era homes in Homebush West were sold for $10.43 million just one month after an investor paid $5.8 million for them four weeks prior.

The houses in Welfare Street and Flemington sold for for up to $200,000 above the reserve, for between $840,000 and $915,000, to mostly Asian buyers, Robert Pignataro from agent Strathfield Partners said.

Tenants of the houses, some of which have lived there for six decade protested the sale, concerned that they would be evicted.

13. This luxury residential development called Pacific Bondi Beach was bought by a company linked with Andrew Roberts, who also bought the Double Bay property mentioned earlier. He paid $25 million for it when it wasn't even finished being built.

The luxury penthouse in Bondi briefly held the right of the most expensive apartment ever sold in Australia when it would bought by Roberts in November 2014.

The two-storey apartment, designed by Burley Katon Halliday, has four bedrooms, an internal lift, a vast main bedroom with a spa and a gym, and 40 metres of Bondi Beach frontage.

The sale matched the current record set by buyer Will Vicars, chief investment officer of Caledonia Investments, who last year purchased two apartments in the building next door, known as the Lighthouses, with plans to create a single mega-apartment.

16. Now, if you think Australian property prices are insane, try New Zealand.

Cheer up Sydneysiders trying to buy a house, you could be in Auckland, New Zealand, which is undergoing its own property boom.

Unprecedented sales activity in March has seen Auckland’s residential housing market establish new records for prices and sales numbers. The average house price is even more expensive than in Sydney, with the gap widening as a stronger Kiwi dollar heads towards parity.